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By
WAYNE KLEIN
Acquired by Disney this CGI
children's film fails on almost every account. The
story is empty and the CGI can't even compare to
Disney's pale Pixar imitation "Chicken Little"
(itself lacking much of the quirky brilliance that
has made Pixar films the bar against which all
other CGI films are measured) lacking the detail
and any sense of personality. "Valiant" will play
well with kids 5 and under they're a pretty
undemanding group that will sit through just about
anything. I doubt, however, if they'll remain
interested in this pathetic release from Disney
much more than a half hour. Featuring a top-notch
cast including Ewen McGregor, John Cleese, Ricky
Gervais, Hugh Laurie and others the voice talent
occasionally saves the day in this dreadful film
but sadly not often enough.
Despite of all of these flaws, Disney has done a
fine job in transferring "Valiant" to DVD. The
film looks extremely good in this release with
accurate, vivid colors and sharp image quality.
The 5.1 soundtrack doesn't quite measure up to the
visual aspects of the transfer with surround
speakers used primarily to dish out dramatic music
and some sound effects. Dialogue, however, is
crisp and clear. It's mercifully short but then
again even a short period of torture seems to go
on forever to the person waiting for the torture
to begin.
Set during WW II tells the story of Valiant a
small pigeon (Ewen McGregor) with larger than life
dreams that enlists to deliver messages for the
British Royal Air Force Homing Pigeon Service. He
hooks up with an odd assortment of other birds not
quite up to the task as well such as Bugsy (Ricky
Gervais) a con pigeon so dirty that it appears
it's the dirt that keeps his feathers on his body.
These recruits are put through the ringer by their
drill sergeant as he tries to remold them into
tough messenger pigeons capable of taking on the
Nazi menace represented by Von Talon (Tim Curry).
Von Talon has captured and dispatched most of the
British pigeons delivering messages. When an
important message must be delivered behind enemy
lines the British desperately turn to Valiant and
his buddies to make sure the message gets through
to the troops.
Since this was an acquisition and not a Disney
original, Disney didn't put much into the way of
special features for "Valiant" which might have
been the movie's saving grace. We get a short
blooper set and a so-so game entitled "Valiant
Training Challenge." It'll keep kids occupied all
of five minutes. We also get the usual assortment
of Disney trailers.
This film reminds me of the increasingly pathetic
films that director Don Bluth made after he left
Disney. Initially Bluth made a handful of strong
films but quickly drifted into cookie cutter films
that were increasingly devoid of wit and
intelligence. Sadly director Gary Chapman never
made anything as memorable as "The Secret of
NIMH," "An American Tail" or "The Land Before
Time" before creating this mess of a movie.
""Valiant" falls at the latter end of the "Bluth"
spectrum when he was making mirthless and witless
dreck like "A Troll in Central Park." I'd suggest
skipping "Valiant" unless you're absolutely
desperate to put your children to sleep. Then
again, using it to put the kids to sleep might not
be a bad idea. |
